Firebase Studio alternative after the 2027 shutdown

Firebase Studio is closing: as of November 2026 it takes no new sign-ups or workspaces and shuts down on March 22, 2027, and Google sends people to Google AI Studio (or to Antigravity for code-first work). Choose Google AI Studio if you want Google's own stack: native Kotlin Android apps or React web apps from a prompt, Firestore and Firebase sign-in wired in, a free tier tied to Gemini rate limits, and a one-click push to the Google Play internal testing track. Choose App Builder Agent if you want a Flutter or React Native app from a description, an APK you can download and send to anyone, and a backend and AI features that come with the project. Neither builds iPhone apps directly.

Who each tool is for

Firebase Studio was Google's browser workspace for building full-stack apps with Gemini, including the App Prototyping agent (Prototyper) that built apps from prompts without code. Its docs list frameworks such as Next.js, React, Angular, Vue.js, Android and Flutter, with previews of web and Android apps in the browser and publishing to Firebase App Hosting. As of November 2026 that is history for new users. Google announced the sunset on March 19, 2026; since June 22, 2026 nobody can sign up or create a workspace; and on March 22, 2027 the service shuts down and the remaining data is permanently deleted. Existing workspaces keep working until then, with security patches, and the Firebase services behind them (Firestore, Authentication, App Hosting) carry on. So the real question for most people searching for a Firebase Studio alternative is what to use now, and Google's own answer is Google AI Studio.

Google AI Studio is Google's Gemini workspace, and its Build mode is where apps are made. As of November 2026 you pick a platform, web or Android, and describe the app in a chat. A web app is React by default with a Node.js server side, can be published to Cloud Run and synced both ways with GitHub. Since Google I/O in May 2026, an Android app is a native Kotlin project with Jetpack Compose and Material 3. It runs in a cloud emulator streamed to your browser, installs on your own phone over USB (WebUSB in Chrome or Edge), and goes to Google Play's internal testing track from Settings, signed with a key AI Studio manages. Click Enable Firebase and the agent sets up a Firebase project with Firestore and Google sign-in, and drafts the security rules. It suits people who want to stay inside Google's ecosystem, developers who will open the Kotlin project in Android Studio later, and anyone moving a browser-first Firebase Studio prototype, since AI Studio has a Move to Google AI Studio path.

App Builder Agent is built around getting an Android app onto phones quickly. You describe the app in plain English; an AI agent writes one React Native codebase (or Flutter, if you ask); the app runs in the emulator preview in the builder, where you tap through it; and you change anything by chatting. Download APK in the Preview tab gives you a file to install on any Android phone, and a signed APK plus AAB is ready for Google Play on paid plans. A hosted backend with an online database, sign-in and an admin panel is added when you ask, AI features in the app use the AI backend that comes with the project, and the agent can add payments with your own Stripe, Razorpay or PayPal account. The same account builds websites and games. It suits people with no Android setup, no USB cable and no wish to manage API quotas.

Side-by-side comparison

Choose Google AI Studio if

• You want a native Kotlin and Jetpack Compose Android project that a developer can open in Android Studio, rather than a cross-platform one.
• You want Firebase from the start: Firestore, Google sign-in and security rules set up from the chat, in a Firebase project you control.
• You are moving a Firebase Studio web prototype and want Google's own Move to Google AI Studio path, or a later export to Antigravity.
• You are comfortable with Gemini API quotas and billing, and happy for your app's AI calls to run on your own Gemini usage.
• You want Google Play internal testing in one click, with signing handled for you, and you will do the production release in the Play Console yourself.

Choose App Builder Agent if

• You want a Flutter or React Native app built from a description, rather than a Kotlin-only project or a code editor.
• You want an APK you can download and send to testers on any Android phone, with no USB cable, Chrome setup or developer options.
• You want the backend and in-app AI included with the project, without setting up keys or watching rate limits.
• You want phone features and payments added by asking: camera, reminders, voice, maps and images, or a hosted checkout with your own Stripe, Razorpay or PayPal account.
• You also want a website or a game from the same account. The expense apps in the gallery show what a single description produces.

The same app in each tool

Take a group of friends planning a trip who want a shared expense splitter: add what each person paid, split it fairly and see who owes whom at the end. It needs data shared between phones, sign-in, and ideally a receipt photo.

In Google AI Studio you open Build mode, pick Android and describe the app. The Kotlin project appears in the cloud emulator, and you refine it in the chat. To share data between phones you enable Firebase, which provisions Firestore and Google sign-in. Two practical points from Google's docs: the browser emulator has no camera and no Google Play services features such as Google Sign-In, so you test those on a real phone over USB; and Android projects are client-side only. To put it in friends' hands you publish to the Play internal testing track with your Google Play developer account and share the link. The result is a clean native project you can keep developing in Android Studio.

In App Builder Agent you open the APK app builder and describe it:

The app appears in the emulator preview within minutes. You add a few fake expenses, check that the balances add up, then refine: "split some expenses by percentage", "remind everyone to settle up on the last day of the trip", "add sign-in and save trips online so all of us see the same list". The last request brings in the hosted backend with an online database. Download APK in the Preview tab gives you a file to send to the group straight away, and on a paid plan the signed build gives you the APK and AAB for Google Play. The details for this kind of app are in build an expense tracker app without coding, and the one-click starting point is the expense tracker app maker.

What to expect if you switch

From Firebase Studio to App Builder Agent. There is no project import, so treat your Firebase Studio app as the specification. Before anything else, use Zip and Download in your workspace: Google's guide says it is the only way to get your files out, that chat history is not in the ZIP (it lives in /home/user/.idx/ai), and that everything left after March 22, 2027 is deleted. Then describe the app to App Builder Agent screen by screen, with the old code as a reference. Your Firebase project itself keeps working, but App Builder Agent's backend is the hosted one it adds when you ask, so plan how you will move existing users and data. If the app is already on Google Play, an update has to keep the same package name and be signed with the key Google Play expects, so check what you hold before you move. You gain Flutter or React Native from a description and a downloadable APK; you lose the native Kotlin output, Firebase's own console and Google's migration tools.

From App Builder Agent to Google AI Studio. On a paid plan, export the complete project and keep it. AI Studio's Build mode starts from a prompt (web projects can also import a GitHub repository), and its Android projects are Kotlin, so moving there means asking its agent to rebuild the app natively, with your exported app as the reference.

Using both. A sensible split is to prototype the idea in App Builder Agent, send the APK to real users for a week, and only then ask AI Studio for a native Kotlin version on Firebase if you want Google's stack for the long run. Planning that first week is covered in build an MVP app for your startup in a weekend.

Tip: if you still have a Firebase Studio workspace, download the ZIP and the chat history folder today, even if you have not decided where to go. After March 22, 2027 they cannot be recovered.

Free options, stores and iPhone

As of November 2026 Google AI Studio is free to use unless you link a paid API key, within the free-tier rate limits it shows you; the paid tier starts with US$5.00 of prepaid credit, and Cloud Run hosting is billed by usage beyond what eligible accounts get without a billing account. App Builder Agent's free plan starts with Google sign-in and includes a free APK download of your first app; paid plans add continued editing, more projects, unlimited APK builds, signed builds and source export. For Google Play, both need the one-time US$25 developer registration. AI Studio stops at internal testing, and both routes end in the Play Console, where new personal accounts must run a closed test with at least 12 testers for 14 days before production; see publishing on Google Play from the US, UK or EU and signed APK and AAB for the Play Store. Neither builds iPhone apps directly; App Builder Agent's route is the source export plus Xcode, explained in can an AI app builder make an iPhone app. What a free plan should really include is covered in AI app builder free plan: what you really get, and the wider field in best AI app builders in 2026.

Frequently asked